“Taking pictures is savouring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”

— Marc Riboud

It feels strange talking about it being a new year as I sit here in the middle of February, but that is exactly what it feels like. Every calendar year, for me, starts with Celtic Connections, Glasgow’s massive winter festival of traditional, World, and all sorts of other music too. It is an eclectic mixing bowl of culture and energy, and both a great opportunity for me, as a freelance photographer, to be busy and productive, and also a time of great pressure to be busy and productive - a time where I almost feel that I have to justify myself as a working photographer.

Facing the “Imposter” Within

The programme for the festival is launched in October of the previous year. That means that the last couple of months of the year, and early in January too, is taken up by contacting bands, discussing their photographic needs and seeing how I may be able to help them. It is a time when feelings of impostor syndrome can be high, a feeling that I know I share with a lot of other creative people. Who am I to be approaching this band to ask if they want photographs? Am I just imposing on them? Am I just embarrassing myself? Will this be the year that the festival just doesn’t let me in? It is ridiculous really. I have been photographing the festival now for over a decade. Over that time, I have built up my reputation and my skills. As much as I am approaching bands to see if they want photographs, I am also approached by bands asking if I will take their photos for them. The festival team, and the press and media team in particular, couldn’t be any more helpful and welcoming. They genuinely are the best. For all my doubts, I know that I am good at what I do. I know that I can get the images, and there is nothing better than seeing a frame on the back of the camera and to know that you have nailed it. As a musician myself, I immerse myself into these gigs, seeking to capture not just individual photographs, but a story of the show, of the individual musicians who performed it, their interactions as a group, and the wider audience and venue. Playing in a concert and watching a concert is a collective experience, and I am there to capture that as best as I can. Delivering the final images to the client, and getting their enthusiastic feedback is just such a rewarding experience.

A Festival to Remember

So, after all the doubts and worries leading up to the festival, how was this past Celtic Connections for me? It was genuinely brilliant. I photographed 15 different concerts over the 18 days of the festival, sometimes doing two concerts in one day. I had 14 different clients - 14 bands who said that they wanted my photographs. My photographs also made it into three national newspapers - The Herald, The Times, and the Scottish Sun. If you have seen my photos in any other publications, do let me know. I don’t always necessarily know in advance where an image will appear.

So, all in all, the festival was a great experience this year. I have had the thrill of being able to take all these photographs and of seeing such wonderful music. I have also had the joy of delivering images to clients and getting their feedback, along with the feedback from all the social media posts. If you follow me on Instagram, rather than Facebook, my posting is a bit behind on there. Apologies for that. I will be sharing more images from the festival there soon. As the quote at the top discusses, it was a great time for savouring life intensely. The best thing of all is just the experience of the festival. It is in seeing old friends, and making new ones. It is those opportunities to grab a tune with someone, or to sit in the bar of the hotel in the evening and chat. Celtic Connections is a wonderfully warm and embracing festival. We are so lucky to have something like that in our city every year. A huge thanks goes to the festival press team, once again, of Corrie, Becky and Shaun, and of course to Donald Shaw, Lesley Shaw, and all the people who put in such work every year to make the festival such a success.

Why Now? Dusting Off the Blog

So, that is all well and good, but why write this blog post now? The previous blog post on here is from 2017! There was one in 2020 that I wrote advertising my new print shop on the website. I took that down recently as a print shop is not really the best way to sell my landscape images. There are so many different options available when it comes to print sizes and paper choices, as well as framing options if you would like your print framed, that it is more logical to just say to get in touch with me if you would like a print and we can discuss what you are after and provide an individual solution.

Whether you count my last blog post as 2017 or 2020, though, it is a long time ago. I am not going to apologise for that this time. I did that last time. I will just say that it is my intent to be more active on here in the future. What has brought me back is very much the inspiration of the festival and a reigniting of a drive to build this photography business further. I love the experience of photography, whether that be the concert photography of the past month, the landscape photography that I know a lot of you followed me for in the first place, or the opportunities I get to do portrait photography or to capture someone’s wedding. They are all special and I want to be doing more of it. Considering I do share quite a lot of landscape images over the year, I did just get away for two landscape photography trips over 2025. That simply can not be the situation in 2026. I want to get to new places and to see new sights, whether that be in Scotland or further afield.

A New Digital Home

It is not just this blog post that is new, it is the website it is being hosted on. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been completely redesigning my site. It has been rebuilt from the ground up. Gone is the old portfolio design - which was fine for showing off my images, but not for much more - and in comes a fully structured site, which, I think, better demonstrates the range of what I do and what I can do for my clients. At the time of writing it, the site is not quite finished. There are a few more bits that I have yet to finish, but it is probably about 90% there. Please do have a look around, see what you think, and give me your feedback. It is always challenging designing a site that is responsive for everything from a large 4k monitor, down to a mobile phone. If you see anything that you don’t think is working as it should, let me know and I will fix it.

Looking Ahead…

So what does the coming year have for me? Well my next photography booking is for the North Atlantic Song Convention in Edinburgh, which runs from the 6th to the 8th March. I got to photograph this last year, and it is a great event all round, with concerts, workshops, panel discussions and singing circles. I am very much looking forward to getting back to it. I also plan to get away with the camera soon to do some more landscape photography. If you have any suggestions for locations, please do let me know. Beyond that, we shall see. If you would like to work together, get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you.

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